A NUMBER of the region's Tourism Ministers are calling on Caribbean Heads of Government to enlist the assistance of lobbyists to fight the new passport regulations being implemented by the United States. "It's about time we started looking into that possibility," said Noel Lynch, Minister of Tourism for Barbados. "Major corporations get their word out through them (lobbyists) in Washington, so why not us? We are already paying financial advisers to assist our finance ministers," Mr. Lynch told The Gleaner at the start of the Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference (CHIC) in Miami, Florida, on the weekend. The minister's comments come in the wake of the recent announcement by the United States of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) which becomes effective January 1, 2006. The new regulation stipulates that all citizens re-entering the United States from the Caribbean must hold a valid U.S. passport. EXPORT EARNINGS A recent study conducted by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) on behalf of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) concluded that as much as US$2.6 billion of visitor export earnings and more than 188,000 travel and tourism jobs could be at risk if the law takes effect in January. Both Canada and Mexico will be affected by the new measures; however, they were given longer implementation dates - a decision many in the region have voiced as preferential treatment. "In terms of St. Lucia, all we are asking for is equal treatment, just as Canada and Mexico are getting," said St. Lucia's Minister of Commerce, Tourism, Investment and Consumer Affairs, Phillip Pierre. St. Lucia gets 36 per cent of its tourists from the United States, and 20 to 25 per cent of them don't have passports. Minister Pierre agrees with his colleague Minister Lynch, and so does Harold Lovell, Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation in Antigua and Barbuda. The three countries that will be hardest hit by the WHTI are Jamaica, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. In the case of Jamaica, the country gets 71 per cent of its visitors from the United States and research shows that 50 per cent of the travellers that came from that country in 2004 did not possess passports. Already some of the Jamaican hoteliers are offering to purchase passports for visitors staying at their properties. In fact, Super-Clubs Resorts has introduced a promotion that will see them paying for the passports of any guests vacationing at any of their properties from now until November 30, 2005. Each passport will cost US$87.00. The chain operates resorts in the Bahamas and Dominican Republic as well. Another initiative being taken by the region is engaging the help of the diaspora, the regional negotiating machinery and diplomats based in the United States. Reprinted from jamaica-gleaner.com